2006 SEMA Show by TCC Team (10/30/2006)
All our coverage from the Las Vegas aftermarket extravaganza.

by Rex Roy

Photos by Rex Roy

Two automakers elected to use SEMA to make new product announcements. First, Honda announced that the four-door Civic will now be available in Si trim. What's even better is that the manufacturer has teamed with longtime Honda tuner Mugen. The result is that Honda dealers will sell up to 500 Mugen Si models per year, each covered by a full factory warranty. The Mugen mods include a stiffer high-performance suspension, lighter forged aluminum wheels, a body kit, and a sport exhaust system.

Honda also featured a modified Fit at their booth, one of many at the show. Decked out with high-performance hardware sourced mostly from Japan, the exercise was done to prove that little cars can be fun — something tuners already knew.

The Honda piece that was easily the most fun was an Element. Yes, an Element. What you see under the hood is a twin-turbocharged 3.2-liter Acura V-6 making around 500 horsepower. The engine is hooked to a rear-wheel-drive setup. Honda engineers from Ohio put the trucklet together, and plan on campaigning it in the 2007 Formula Drift Series.

Subaru chose SEMA to launch its 2007 Forester Sports model. Looking like a high-roofed STi, the Forester Sport's new styling comes with a the 224-horsepower boxer 4-cylinder. Taking their stock model to its logical next step, Subaru also showed a not-for-production Forester that they gave the WRX treatment. Parts from Japan mingled with other custom bits to create the pumped-up tall wagon.

Hyundai had some fun at SEMA this year, with customized models representing nearly their entire line, including this Tiburon. The first day of the show was Halloween, perhaps providing the reason for the terribly scary face on the hood of one car in their display.

Volkswagen also held court at SEMA. Unlike last year their display cars were completely out of reach for tuners because of the proprietary powertrain engineering, but this SEMA VW made things more approachable. Their fun concept was the Thunder Bunny, playing off the new Rabbit. Retro pieces and design touches from the 1980s played well on this car that also featured body, suspension, and powertrain pieces from VW and long-time VW tuner, Neuspeed.

VW’s R GTI concept avoided all stick and went for stealth instead. The Volkswagen team responsible for the car made it faster by adding lightness using generous amounts of carbon fiber and by deleting equipment such as the rear seat. The engine is an APR-modified 2.0-liter turbo running a huge Garrett turbocharger puffing out 21 psi of boost. Horsepower is stated at 375, helping generate a 0-60 mph time of 4.8 seconds.